Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Kids Get Arty - Drawing with Scissors like Henri Matisse

This month I introduced the girls to Henry Matisse. While perusing some of his works online the girls were drawn to his paper cut out art and I knew we had found our inspiration.

We focused on working with paper cut outs in various colors and shapes and using them to make a collage in the style of Matisse. It was so much fun even I joined in and created a collage. Can you tell which is mine in the above photo?

We read the book Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors by Jane O'Connor.

I gave the Lil Divas free reign and it was wonderful to see how they both approached their art so differently.

The Oldest Diva used large pieces (mostly triangles and hearts) in red, pink, purple and blue. She was very deliberate and I noticed she had trouble just letting go and cutting. When I encouraged her to just cut without a particular shape in mind, she told me she couldn't. She was done very quickly and it surprised me that she found this activity difficult. She loves art and is always drawing. Thinking about it, she always has an end goal in mind though. She isn't very abstract or about the process. This is something I plan to explore with her a bit more, to see if she can shift out of her comfort zone and let lose. Any suggestions on which artist we can explore next that will help us do that?

The Littlest Diva used lots of color, worked hard at making all kinds of shapes and using them to create pictures in her art. Her art told a story - there is a castle, the sun, clouds, birds, butterflies, a snake and more. As she freely cut and pasted her story unfolded and came to life in her imagination. It was magical. Her imagination never ceases to amaze me.

The art work turned out great and I enjoyed watching the Lil Divas at work and seeing their masterpieces unfold.

10 comments:

I found your blog thanks to my friend amanda, and I love it! We just started a book link up party, and are trying to find more creative ways to involve kids and moms with reading!! I will definitely keep up with yours:)